The Hard Roads That Lie Ahead
by Brennanite47
Summary: When Brennan and Booth get together while drunk, they begin to fall into each other's lives easily, until the drastic event that will change their lives forever. Chapter Ten now up! rated T for some language
1. Unfortunate Events

_**This was Dragonistanny's (i hope i spelled that right) request which I slowed down my other stories for. It will be updated ASAP, but we all know in my world that can go really slowly. Lurve you all.**_

_**Chapter One:**_

The skull splitting headache was what roused her to her senses at first. Her dulled reflexes slowly made her hand come up to cover her eyes from the rising sun that streamed through the curtains. Washington DC outside was buzzing and teaming with the lives of it's citizens going about their days. She, however, simply wanted to die at this moment.

It wasn't just the fact that Dr. Temperance Brennan was suffering from what was probably considered the worst hangover ever, she couldn't remember how she'd obtained said hangover.

Brennan groaned and buried her face further into the pillow. Memories of Hodgins drink-all-day-party-all-night bash were coming to her in short, badly cut little scenes. Everyone from the lab had been there including Booth; she knew that much. After that, all that was clear to her were Mai Tais, loud music, and miscellaneous shapes and colors.

Trying to push herself up, Brennan's fingers came into contact with something she groggily recognized as paper. The question that would've come to mind had she not been impaired was why there was a piece of paper in her bed, but her brain wasn't responding well to anything. She unfolded it and struggled to adjust her eyes to the four simple words that were written on the page.

_We need to talk._

The script handwriting she'd been reading for years was instantly identified in her sluggish gray matter as her partner's. She recoiled, dropping the slip as though it were on fire. Brennan scrubbed her eyes and looked across the bed, finding that the other side was unruly; the tell-tale signs that someone had slept there. Terror rose in her stomach as she quickly shuffled throughout the few possibilities that were there.

Brennan got herself moving as fast as her lagging body would allow her without getting sick. Whatever had happened last night needed to be brought to the light through the fog of alcohol.

* * *

Booth sat patiently in his partner's office; hung over and heavy headed. He laid down on the couch as he took a deep drink of the coffee in the travel mug he'd brought. There wasn't a doubt in the FBI agent's mind that the good doctor wouldn't remember what had happened the previous night today. Unfortunately, he hadn't been so plastered as to black out, but just enough to agree to the one, singular thing that could effectively ruin their relationship.

Brennan walked into her office, squinting against the harshness of the fluorescent lights. Like usual, she didn't see Booth until she turned around to leave for the forensic platform, but this time was different. It was almost as though she could feel his gaze on her.

She sat down in one of the chairs across from the couch, avoiding eye contact for as long as possible.

"What do you remember?" Booth tried to find a way to start the inevitable conversation.

"Mai Tais. You?" she picked at her fingernails.

"Most of it." he whispered quietly.

"How were you in my apartment last night." she looked into his eyes for the first time. "I mean…did we…?" she trailed off.

Booth sat up slowly and reached across the coffee table to her. Brennan's first instinct was to pull back, but was curious as to where this was going. She held out the hand he asked for and he enveloped it in both of his own.

"You tell me." he mumbled so low it was barely audible.

In that simple, inanimate touch, so much was made clear so fast.

_She'd been wanting him all night, every night for the last four years. He kissed her warm skin softly for several minutes until she'd kicked it up. Her hands couldn't move fast enough to touch all of him. Ripping his shirt at the shoulder, she had her first touch of his taut body._

Brennan slipped her hand out from between his, knowing now what he'd been telling her. "I'm sorry I ruined your shirt.

"I'm not worried about it. How does this change us is what I'm thinking about right now." Booth's voiced was edged with passion.

"I…I'm not sure." Brennan honestly responded. She'd never not known about one of her sexual experiences before, and was certain she'd never _ever_ forgotten it if it involved her partner of four years. "What do you think we should do?"

"It all depends on what we want to make of this." he sounded weakly hopeful.

"Booth…do _you _want something from this situation?" Brennan had to ask.

"Do you?" he countered.

She clammed up, not sure of where to take the conversation next. "Well…we might be able to…um…try to have things go back to normal?" the statement wasn't in her voice.

"Is that a question?" he asked rhetorically as she flushed a deep red. "Do you want things to go back to the way they were before?"

"I don't know!" she had an IQ of Einstein and couldn't understand the private war going on inside herself with her emotions and her mind. Brennan would've really appreciated an explanation of the deep, personal connection that she felt towards the man in front of her that was essentially asking her for a relationship. If asked, Angela would say that this feeling was 'love'. Being as she herself knew little about the topic, she'd ignore her and go about examining a skeleton. This time, there wasn't an escape handy or an excuse to get her out of the awkwardness that all but radiated around them.

"Well, let's try this some way you'll understand it." an idea sprang into Booth slow brain.

"And what exactly would that be?" she didn't meet his eyes.

"Experiment. You know…"

"Like…a date?" she asked.

"Yeah. You know, I'll wine and dine you and see if anything comes up." Booth said quietly.

"Experiment?" she asked it as though the word was foreign.

"Something you're familiar with. How about it?" Booth asked with a Cheshire Cat smile.

"Well…I guess in the name of science, we could give it a shot." she said reluctantly and still slightly impaired from being hung over.

"Fine, I'll pick you up at eight than." Booth said merrily and walked out.

**_What do you think so far? Reviews, wether my own ideas or not, are always appreciated._**


	2. A Match Made In Heaven

**_So I know it's been forever since I've updated, and I'm SO SO SO SO sorry. But in the time that I've been gone, I've become one-half of the dynamic duo "Team Smuffy Sternum". It's a combination of both Coilerfan35's and my own talents of fluffyness and smuttyness. If you're up for some complete randomness, go check us out._**

_**Chapter Two:**_

"So, how'd I do?" Booth asked as sat down across from her at the very modern, very expensive-looking restaurant that he'd picked for their impromptu date.

"Impressive, Booth." Brennan said while she looked around, admiring the architecture of the building. "Very impressive…how did you get reservations on such short notice?"

"Well, I have my ways." Booth tried his hardest to dismiss the question.

"Did you give my name?" she asked with a small smile.

"It's _drop_ your name, and yes." he retreated his face behind his menu.

Brennan merely laughed at his discomfort as watched him. She wasn't exactly sure what to think of a date with him after her mind had cleared of hangover and several gallons of coffee later. Now that she knew that they'd slept together, there didn't seem like a whole lot was holding them back from going out on one, innocent little date.

They ate in a companionable silence, not really in the mood to talk about work or anything really death-related. Still, the little-too-long-lasting glances were still as present as ever. And the awkward pauses that came after she said something too literal for him to comprehend.

"You look really beautiful tonight, Bones." he said about halfway through desert.

Brennan didn't really have a response to that, but a blush that spread through her entire body ensued quickly after he'd made the small comment. Why did that statement make her feel so nervous? She didn't know what this weird feeling in the bottom of her stomach meant either. Brennan forced herself to ignore it and forced a simple thank you out of her suddenly dry throat.

After dinner, Booth drove around aimlessly as they small-talked. He really didn't want to take her home, even though it was getting late really soon. When he finally stopped in the parking structure underneath her building, they were both looking at each other for some kind of answer how to extend the evening.

"You wanna come up for coffee?" she asked when she saw he didn't want to leave.

"Can that coffee turn into hot chocolate?" he asked.

Brennan laughed, "What are you? Twelve?"

"Oh, I'm sorry that the heater decided to give out in the dead of winter and I'm freezing my ass off." Booth ranted as she continued laughing.

"Yes, follow me." she said and waited for him to join her by her side before heading for the elevator. Booth rubbed his bare hands together against the biting cold.

"Here. My hands are warm." Brennan pulled her own out of her pockets and placed them over top of his.

Booth was shocked at the warmth that Brennan's hands just seemed to radiate. "Holy crap, Bones. You're like a furnace." he stated, his frozen hands tingling under the heat.

"I have a higher tolerance for cold than you do, Booth. I've spent several winters in the Yukon providence in Canada identifying Native Indians. Average temperature's about negative thirty degrees." she explained.

"Lovely. Not going to Canada anytime soon." he stated as they felt the elevator come to a stop on her floor. She unlocked her apartment silently and turned on the lights.

Home never seemed so much like home unless Booth was there. She couldn't explain it, but whenever he was trying to raid her fridge for beer, digging through her stuff for who knew what, or just stretched out on her couch taking a nap, it always seemed more complete.

"Go ahead and get the water boiling. I'm gonna change real quick. This thing's kind of itchy." Brennan scratched at the back of her new black dress. She was starting to think that she had missed one of the tags.

"Sure." Booth said slowly as he watched her retreat into her bedroom and close the door. He'd been trying to keep his thoughts in check all night, refusing his brain a trip down memory lane to the night before when everything had happened in an alcohol-laden haze. He shook his head as he put the water in the teapot and turned the stove on.

Brennan came back out in a dark blue t-shirt and matching plaid pajama pants. She had thick fuzzy socks keeping her feet warm as she padded out to the kitchen. If it were possible, Booth thought she'd never looked so beautiful. The blue of her nightwear just seemed to accentuate her eyes in the most unbelievable way. They almost looked neon.

Once the water boiled, they dissolved the powdered chocolate in the scalding liquid and each claimed an end of the couch. They joked quietly while the hot cocoa did it's job of warming Booth up. Not only was it just the rush of warm fluid down his throat, but through his 'in-depth' investigating skills, he could tell that she wasn't wearing a bra. This little fact sent the blood in his veins rushing southward.

"Booth? Could I ask you a question?" Brennan didn't look at him, but forced his eyes up to her face.

"Sure, Bones. What's on your mind?" Booth set his empty mug on the coffee table and adjusted himself comfortably, expecting a long, drawn-out discussion.

Brennan refused to meet his gaze, so she looked down into her empty mug. "I'm not an idiot, am I?"

He was very close to laughing at her. "Not by a long shot, Bones. You let me know how smart you are several times a day."

"Well, yes, I know that I'm technically a genius…" she smiled a bit.

"There you go." Booth said sarcastically.

"Ugh, no. That's not what I meant. What I'm trying to say is…I don't understand why I have such…bad luck in relationships." she finished quietly.

Booth looked at the woman tucked up into a ball on the opposite end of the couch. He didn't believe his ears. There wasn't the possibility that his partner had just said that. Judging by her demeanor, it was an uncomfortable subject; something completely new to her.

"What do you mean by that?" It took all of Booth's vocal power not to crack his voice.

"All of my relationships never last more than three months…, then last night happened…" Brennan rubbed her eyes quietly to relieve some of the strain she felt building up there.

Booth wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. He wasn't even sure himself how he felt about the previous night's activities. If there was something he was feeling right now, it was regret. Regret that they couldn't take anything further than that.

He knew she didn't feel the same way he felt about the topic in question, and it left his heartstrings dangling limp and lifeless. Booth thought that after five years with this aggravating woman that something would pop up between them. He didn't want things to be this awkward, but there wasn't much he could do to help the situation.

"Last night was a mistake." he finally choked out. It was a broad-faced lie, but he tried to hide that from her. "Nothing more than that."

"That's what's confusing." she clarified. Brennan wasn't sure of what she was about to say. As Booth would've put it, she was 'taking a leap of faith'. "I don't want it to be a mistake."

He hadn't looked her in the eyes until the second after the sentence came from her lips. Her eyes were full of concern and the nerves were apparent in the fidgeting of her fingers. Booth knew that he'd wanted this, but he couldn't believe that she'd feel the same way. Just as he'd told his boss not a week ago, no one ever told Brennan what to do or to say. That's what made her Bones.

"What are you saying exactly, Bones?" he knew he sounded way too hopeful.

Brennan took in a deep breath, then exhaled. "I think that you and I have the possibility of withstanding the complications of a romantic relationship."

"You like me." Booth smiled like a schoolboy even as she smacked him in the arm. "You want to have a deeper relationship with me." he stated more seriously.

All she could do was nod. She didn't trust her voice not to break. She picked at a fingernail nonchalantly. "But, I'm scared."

"You think I'll leave you?" he asked the obvious.

She nodded.

"Bones, look at me." he tucked a finger under her chin, bringing her eyes up to his. "I promised you a long time ago that I'd never leave you, even if you told me to. I haven't broken my promise and I don't intend to in the future." He placed a gentle hand on her arm.

Breaking away from his touch, Brennan stood. "You say that now, Booth, but what happens when I screw this up? What happens when you can't stand me anymore and then there I am again, all alone with no one there. You're the only one who's cared about me as long as you have, Booth. I don't want to lose you. Forget I ever said that."

She'd tried her hardest to cover it up, but Booth heard the soft sob that escaped her lips as she turned her back to him.

Booth got up and walked around to face her, seeing the moisture in her eyes escalate. "Temperance, you have to have some faith in yourself. I have faith in you, and I have faith in myself, therefore I have faith in _us._ I want this just as much as you do, if not more." he whispered quietly as he ran soothing strokes up and down her bare arms.

The look of disbelief in her eyes was all-too apparent. Booth had to reassure her, for her sake and his own.

Their lips met in a passionate kiss full of promise. A promise not to become Brennan's worst nightmare.

* * *

**_THIS IS NOT THE END!! Trust me, this is only the tip of the metaphorical iceberg. Dragonistanny gave me the ideas, so I'm gonna run with them, but I've probably said too much already. You wanna find out where else I can go with this? You gotta review, and I promise I'll try to get these out faster._**


	3. Being Brought Down to Earth

_**Sorry guys, I know these are taking forever, but I just can't seem to catch a break. Please rest assured I'm doing the best that I can. I owe an apology to Dragonistanny 'cause this should NOT be taking this long to write. All reviews and critique are welcome, as always. XD Peace and love, my friends.**_

_**Chapter Three:**_

_Three weeks later…_

Brennan paced her spacious office at the Jeffersonian, waiting impatiently on lab results. Her feelings of anxiousness hadn't gone unnoticed by her colleagues. Something hadn't been right all week, but none of them actually had the guts to ask what was wrong.

In their eye's, Brennan really didn't have a lot to complain about. Twenty-one days ago, the unraveling of all sexual tension and pent up emotion had burst through the dam that both her and Booth had built around their hearts. The two weeks following that national-holiday worthy event had been nothing but pure bliss for everyone in the lab. No one had ever seen Temperance Brennan more laid back or easy going than she was then.

Somehow, all of that just seemed to evaporate afterward and Brennan was more on-edge than ever. The sudden mood shift was a sharp contrast to the wondrous days before.

Angela, Hodgins, and Cam were watching her tirade across her office from the safety that the forensic platform offered. Hodgins pretended to do something in case she decided to look his way, but Angela and her superior didn't bother to mask their concerns.

"We let her tread in that circle for much longer and we're gonna have a oval-shaped Brennan foot-track in there." Cam made the visual of Brennan's brown-haired head bobbing up and down in the hole of her feet spring up front and center in their minds.

"I'm worried about her. She's even more clipped than usual." Angela clutched her clipboard closer to her chest watched her friend intently.

"Well, if anyone's got the bravery to talk to her in this state, it's our favorite artist." Hodgins stated the fact while peering down into his microscope with a smile.

Angela shrugged and accepted the challenge. She took the few steps down the stairs and came up to her friend's door with a friendly knock.

Brennan's head darted her way. "Do we have the lab results back yet?" she asked hurriedly.

"No, sweetie, and we probably won't have them till tomorrow when it's this late in the day." Angela looked down at her watch, her guess of four o'clock being a little shy of the actual 4:30 p.m. she read.

"Wonderful." Brennan mumbled sarcastically. She flopped down on her couch and pulled at the ponytail that was giving her a splitting headache.

"Brennan, can you tell me what's wrong?" Angela set her clipboard on the coffee table and sat next to her weary best friend.

She flounced out her hair and snapped the elastic over her wrist. "What do you mean, Angela? I'm fine."

"Sweetie, you're about as subtle as a gun, okay? I can tell when something's up with you." she coaxed.

Brennan pinched her bottom lip between her thumb and forefinger, a nervous habit she'd been prone to as a child that fizzled after her teenage years. It was a unconscious action that hadn't been done in a long time.

"Ange,…I…" Brennan wondered how she could say this without implying anything. "I…I'm late."

"Ah…" Angela might not have been as smart as her counterpart, but she could put two and two together easy enough. "Why do you think that is?"

Brennan sighed, "There could be any number of reasons that this could be happening, but the idea that's sticking out in my mind has been scaring me."

Angela picked up on her cue, telling her best friend to shed her lab coat for her dark red street jacket. She did the same more willingly than Brennan and got the 'ok' from Cam.

"Where are we going?" Brennan asked as she waved to her boss in Autopsy.

"We are either going to confirm or disprove your suspicions in a scientific manner." Angela shot her friend a small smile and guided the anthropologist out to her Matrix.

Angela drove her friend to the nearest drug store and told her to stay put. She remembered these late-night runs as a dumb teenager and took some reminiscence as she got the dirty look from the elderly female cashier. Her smug smile brought up numerous memories that were better left in the past.

She returned to the car and dropped the white plastic bag in Brennan's lap and began driving toward the scientist's apartment. Brennan peered down into the bag to find what she'd already expected. Angela only proved to her what lengths she was willing to go to for her.

The two women sat at Brennan's counter on the barstools. She got herself a bottle of water and a SoBe fruit drink for Angela.

"Those aren't very healthy, Ange." She kept them on hand for her friend, but refused to drink them.

"Well, If I'm gonna go by drinking sugary fruit punch, I'll be happier than if I would end up at the lab on an examination table." Angela said as she took a sizable swig from the large bottle.

Brennan had finished two bottles of water in the time it took Angela to finish half of her fruity drink. It wasn't long before Brennan made the face that was supposed to be the announcement for the inevitable. Taking her plastic bag with her, she made her way down the hallway and into the bathroom.

Angela waited for her friend to return, knowing full well the process that was going to ensue behind the door. Not long after, Brennan returned while staring at her watch.

"How long you have to wait?" she asked quietly.

"The box said five minutes. I'll go ahead and assume that's give or take." Brennan massaged the aching nerves at the back of her neck. "Why did you get so many of them?"

"False positives, sweetie. You probably won't believe it if only one of them comes up with a plus sign."

"Do you think I am, Ange? Do you think I could be pregnant?" If it weren't for Brennan's hands on either sides of her skull, she knew her head would've met the cool tile of her counter.

Angela looked at her friend who was probably as scared as she's ever been in her life; counting her parents abandonment, multiple captures and tortures, and falling for one Special Agent Seeley Booth.

"I can't lie to you, sweetie, you know that. It's plausible and possible." she took one of Brennan's hands in both of hers. "Can you remember a night that you didn't take your pill?"

Brennan grunted and thought over the past month, shaking her head. "There was that one night…"

"What one night?" Curiosity took over Angela's better intentions.

It suddenly dawned on Brennan that she'd neglected to tell her best friend about the night she'd inadvertently gotten drunk and slept with her partner. Not one of her more graceful moments.

She reiterated the events of that night three weeks ago, more or less the same way Booth had gone over them with her after a few dates. Angela, for lack of a better word, was speechless. She could understand why Brennan didn't tell her about it; she didn't know much about it herself.

"I take it at night, before I go to bed. It's most likely that I wouldn't have taken it." Brennan rested her head on her folded arms. Angela rubbed her shoulder soothingly in circles. It was the best she could do to help her friend at this point.

Fifteen minutes and three pregnancy tests later, Brennan was shakily hitting speed dial one on her cell phone. When the voicemail message popped up, Brennan tried her best to sound natural.

"Booth, It's me. I need you to come hom-…my place when you get off. I…I just need you to come home."


	4. Candle in the Window

_**Ok, so it's that time of my life where I get sex ed in school. How joyful it is to watch "The Miracle of Life" play out on a VHS right before my impressionable eyes. *laughs* It reminded me to update this, so you can all thank my wonderful health teacher for this otherwise you might not have seen a chapter for another week or more. This chapter really only serves as the veichle to tell Booth about what's going down. **_

_**Chapter Four:**_

If Angela thought that Brennan had been pacing bad in her office, it was nothing compared to the five-hundred meter power-walk she was currently taking around the track of her living room. Her friend had managed to change into a pair of slim, gray sweatpants and one of her lover's dress shirts. The light weight of the clothes she wore was a small comfort in her current state of utter distress and confusion.

"Brennan, you'll feel better if you take it easy and sit for a little bit." Angela stated, trying to calm her with the little ways she could.

"I can't sit still, Ange." Brennan slowed her pace and ran her fingers roughly through her hair for about the fifth time in the last ten minutes.

Angela, who was now getting dizzy watching Brennan go back and fourth across the floor, pulled the anxious anthropologist into a tight embrace, where she finally went limp from exhaustion.

* * *

Booth plunked in his office chair for the first time that day. He'd been at the shooting range when Sweets had plucked him out and began all of his psycho-mental babble about this and that. This made the F.B.I agent quickly decide to continue keeping the newly elevated relationship between Brennan and himself. He really didn't care to have all the mumbo-jumbo psychology shoved into his head today.

He wasn't sure where along the line he'd ditched the teenage psychologist, but was grateful wherever it took place. The answering machine on his desk was blinking with a single new message. Before he could hit the button to play it, Cullen walked into his office holding a stack of file folders.

"Booth, I think you've got enough paperwork to back you up until Christmas." Cullen tried to make light of dumping on his golden-boy agent.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Sir." Booth dead-panned.

"Don't mention it." he said with an almost smile. Cullen turned to walk away when Booth hit the blinking light on the machine.

"_Booth, it's me. I need you to come hom- to my place when you get off. I…I just need you to come home." _

The troubled voice of his beautiful partner lingered in his brain and sent a cold lick of discomfort traveling up and down his spine. Cullen was looking back at him with a cocked eyebrow, desperately wanting to ask the question, but managed to restrain himself somehow. His boss rolled his eyes and told him to take the rest of the day off.

Booth nodded his appreciation to his superior before bolting from the J. Edgar Hoover Building like he was on fire. Jumping into the Toyota, he sped out of the underground garage and into traffic. He was tempted to turn on his siren, but then thought of the reprimanding he would receive for it.

He sat at a red light miserably. Booth was all too familiar with that tone of voice. It was the voice Brennan adopted when she was near a panic attack while at the same time wanting to run a country mile away from the problem she was facing at the moment. It scared the hell out of him, which caused him to break several speed limits in his race across town.

'_God, please let her be okay.'_ he thought.

* * *

Brennan was curled up on the couch, hugging her knees to her chest. Angela stated that this was something that Brennan had to do on her own and left only a few minutes ago. She wrapped herself in an oversized black hoodie, suddenly feeling freezing.

She wondered how she was going to tell Booth the results of her and Angela's little experimentation. Brennan didn't really know how to deliver the news. Hell, last month, she didn't even know what feelings could bubble up inside her. No one had ever made her feel the way Booth did. This simple fact is what made her bury her face in the dark fabric and feel that backed-up moisture finally fall from her eyes.

Booth walked into the threshold of her apartment with the key that she'd given him for emergency situations. The sight in front of his eyes made his chest twist and tighten in impossible shapes. The object of his affection in the most vulnerable state he'd seen her in to date. The tremors that shook throughout her body were obviously shaking from sobs.

"Bones?" He whispered.

Brennan turned her bloodshot eyes to the non-threatening voice. She knew who it was. It wasn't something hard to deduce even in her fragile frame of mind.

"What happened to you?" He sat down next to her on the couch and pulled her into his strong embrace. She sank into the warmth and comfort she found there that had seemed to have escaped her all that day.

Brennan pulled herself together enough to meet his eyes. "I…I…"

"You're…?" Booth tried to help her.

"Pregnant."

Well that was obviously something he hadn't been expecting. His eyes widened slightly and squeezed her even closer. "You're not serious?"

"When am I not?" she asked, pulling away and dabbing at her tears.

Booth was in a half-trance. He'd expected something terrible like death, chaos, and destruction. Knowing now that the only woman he'd ever truly loved was pregnant, it seemed scarier than all of those combined.

"How? I mean, we were protected."

"Think back to a drunken night I still have no recollection of." she moaned miserably.

He did the math in his head and figured it out. "Oh, fuck."

"Be careful, that's how we got into this situation in the first place." her monotone held anything but humor.

"Well…" Booth was still trying to absorb what she'd told him. "Are you sure?"

She groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Yes, Booth. I took the damn test three times."

"Sorry. Hey," Booth pried her distraught and exhausted face free from her limbs and brought the weary eyes back to his. "what do you want to do about this?"

She wasn't following. "Wha…what do you mean?"

"Bones, I realize that this situation involves both of us, and I know you know that too. And I think it scares you to think that your decision could force you to end up divided."

"Divided?" she croaked through a throat as dry as the Sahara.

"I think you have this little story conjured up in your head that tells you that if you choose one, the other disappears. You need to know that whatever you decide to do; I'm here to support you and…" he cut himself off.

"And?" she coaxed and shook her head.

"Love you."

She retreated noticeably as fresh tears made their way down her cheeks. If she'd known this morning that today would've been the most gut-wrenchingly emotional day of her life, she would probably have rolled over and went back to sleep. Nothing could penetrate the sanctuary her comfortable bed provided when she chose not to let anything in.

Right now, she didn't have the luxury of pulling the covers over her head and mumble, 'there's no such things as monsters'. The monster was staring her right in the face; his warm brown eyes showing nothing but love and adoration for the one they were transfixed on. It was getting harder and harder to breathe.

"Booth…" she choked.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I'll just…" he got up from the couch. He would be committing emotional suicide if he stepped foot out that door, but he assumed she needed her space.

"Booth." she said with more assertiveness.

He turned around to see her running towards him at full speed. Booth caught her just in the nick of time to wrap his arms around her as she tangled her legs around his waist. Their linked bodies crashed into the ajar door, effectively closing it behind him.

"Promise me something?" Brennan's voice was clogged with tears once more.

"Your wish is my command." he joked, knowing she wouldn't see the humor. He set her down on the kitchen island to look her in the eye.

Brennan drew in a shaky breath. "Booth, you know that you're the single most important person to me. In these last few weeks, you've shown me what love really is. I can't imagine spending a night without you anymore let alone anything more."

"Bet that's driving you crazy." he flashed her his award winning 'cocky' smile.

She smiled genuinely for the first time that day. "To say that I love you is an understatement…" her voice grew quiet. "…you're becoming my life."

"You love me?" he asked to confirm.

"Yes."

"Then what is it that you want me to promise?"

Brennan sighed, "That no matter what I say in the future, no matter what I do, I don't mean anything by it. What I'm saying is if I call you insulting names and toss your clothes out onto the street and, god forbid, beg you to leave me,...I don't want you to. Deep down I really don't want you to go anywhere but right here. You, me, and this one." she patted her midsection.

"Which means?" he ran a gentle hand over her overly-sensitized abdomen.

"We're having a baby."

**_I need some reviews people! Please and thank you?! I need my motivation._**


	5. In Your Eyes, I'm Your Everything

_**Hey everybody! Little post-Christmas cheer I wish to you all. I have been working on this, suprisingly enough, and I want to let you all know that I am going to pull out all the stops with this one. Morning sickness, mood swings, cravings, all that good stuff will come in due time. XD**_

**_I was going to make this a little more M-rated, if you know what I mean, but when I tried it didn't really read right. So I left that to your imaginations a bit. It also seemed like it was another ample opportunity to see a little more emotional insecurity into Brennan, so I made this chapter fluffy. *shrugs* It's what I do best. _**

_**Chapter Five:**_

Booth lay awake in the darkness of the room. The white light of the moon found it's way through the blinds and the curtains of the bedroom, casting eerie shadows around the room. He'd learned at a young age he didn't feel completely at ease in beds that didn't belong to him.

A shadow was cast over his bedmate's shoulder and down onto the spot in between them. After their confessions and newly found resolutions, the couple celebrated by locking the door, turning off the cell phones, and made love the way they had been avoiding.

Booth had been afraid to bring the thought up around her that everything wasn't about biological urges and physical release. The emotions and the connectivity to another human being had been completely beyond her grasp of thinking. Tonight had been the actual first night. The night he showed her what it was really all about. After two hours of gentle, passionate love-making, both had come down from the high, satisfied and somehow still wanting more.

He'd been very proud of her. She hadn't rushed him or taken things upon herself to speed things along. She forgot about the fretful day she had and lost herself in the extraordinary feelings he ingrained into her. Every touch, every kiss, every look was just as powerful as the one preceding it. For awhile, she didn't even think about the fact that if this had happened even a week ago, she would've ran as far as her legs could carry her away from the emotion.

By admitting that she loved him, Brennan had done herself the justice of opening herself up to Booth. She thought that the pain in a relationship came from giving all of one's self over to another person. She even surprised herself when she wasn't scared. It had to have been her, God forbid, faith in him that hadn't brought on those frightened child feelings.

Brennan didn't even feel the need to weigh out her chances with Booth. It was odd that she didn't need to think about it for once in a relationship. She knew he would do anything for her.

He scooted in closer to her, closing the distance between them in his loving thoughts of her. Booth snuck one arm under her pillow, the other wrapping itself around her waist and tracing small circles on the thin cotton shirt that rested just above her stomach. It wasn't intentional, but the feather light kisses that covered her neck were slowly bringing her out of unconsciousness.

"You're still awake?" she mumbled softly, a smile stretching across her face.

"Didn't mean to do the same to you. Sorry about that." Booth buried his nose into her hair.

"Don't be. It's a lovely way to wake up." she rolled into his arms, enveloping him with one of her own embraces. Brennan felt the warmth of her bed mate seep through her night clothes and into her own skin, the welcome sensation bringing goose bumps to the surface. "All of this feels so surreal." she stated.

"I was just about to mention the same." he chuckled slightly as he took in her scent. She smelled like springtime cherry blossoms mixed with the natural perfume that was uniquely Bones.

Brennan rolled, laying on her stomach across her partner's chest, a question haunting her eyes. "Booth?…There's something I have to ask. I don't know if it's for my own insecurities or feminine pride or-" she was cut off by his index finger gently holding her lips together.

Booth smiled lightly to himself met her gaze. "Just ask."

His hand came around to caress her cheek softly and push her hair back behind her ear. She barely flinched at the intimate touch, something she'd been learning to do ever since things had taken themselves to the next level. "Are you still going to look at me the same way once I start changing?"

Brow furrowing, he asked, "What exactly do you mean by that?"

Brennan sighed and moved up to sit next to him. "The way you're looking at me right now, like I'm someone worth worshipping, loving,…" her voice cracked a little, "and all of what's barely remarkable about me now is either going to blow up three or four sizes or morph."

"Hey." Booth sat up and lifted her chin up to meet her eyes. He couldn't see them clearly in the darkness, and he didn't have to. He felt the warm moisture that had rolled down her cheeks and gathered at the bottom of her angelic face. "I love you for you. Even if I cared what you look like, because I don't love you for your looks, Bones, they're just a bonus, the reason you're changing would only make it that much more of a reason to love you."

She pulled back in order to wipe away her tears that were being renewed at his words. "You're going to change with a beautiful reason." he continued as he pulled her into his arms once more. "No more tears, okay?"

"Yeah." Brennan agreed. "I love you, too, Booth. More than you can ever know."

"Yes, I can know. 'Cause it's twice as much I as I you."

She smiled, "Dream on."

"Wow, Bones, you got that one right. And it doesn't sound like a bad idea right now." he yawned.

She didn't respond. Brennan was already in the bliss of sleep.

* * *

Angela tapped her foot nervously on her office's area rug. Of course it was the one morning that Brennan was running late; she'd expected it. If Booth was the kind of man she predicted and observed him to be, Angela knew he'd do the right thing. It was Brennan herself she was a little more than worried about. The anthropologist could be the most unpredictable in the weirdest of scenarios.

"Angela? Have you fin-?" Cam watched the artist pace back and forth in a straight line before she'd looked up to acknowledge her superior's presence. "You okay?"

"Possibly. Did Brennan come in yet?" she asked.

"Yeah, she just went in her office…" Cam trailed off as Angela brushed past her out the door and practically sprinted to the other doctor's office. Curious as to what was going on, Hodgins fell into step with the pathologist.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Not sure yet. Angela's acting bizarre."

"That's not unusual." he stated the fact as they entered Brennan's office to find her and Angela sitting on the couch, Angela drilling her friend for answers to something.

"So, are you going to do it?" Angela asked eagerly.

"Yes." Brennan drew out the response.

"And what did he say?"

Brennan bit her bottom lip. "He can't wait to be a part of it's life." she repeated what Booth had said numerous times the night before.

Angela let loose a girly squeal and bounce before she commenced to squeezing the life out of her friend. Brennan accepted it, there was no other alternative, and hugged back.

"What's going on? You both are starting to scare me a little." Cam asked.

Brennan patted the artist's knee. "You can tell them. I have human remains to examine."

"Oh, come on, Bren-nan!" she shouted at her retreating back.

The forensic anthropologist smiled to herself as she pictured the faces of Jack Hodgins and Camille Saroyan as the air around her echoed:

"WHAAAAAAAAT??!?!"

**_Hee hee. I mean, seriously, I had to add that last line. It didn't sound right without it. _**

**_Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? Reviews? Please? With sugar on top? :D_**


	6. Start Back Over At One

_**So I know this is a really fast update for me, but I had nothing to do. I did want to mention something though. I got a review that was asking about why Brennan didn't really think about abortion. It's a good question, and the answer is we already knew that she wanted Booth's baby at the end of season four, but then he had his brain tumor nonsense that had him forgetting who she was. *angry face***_

**_So this chapter is meant to touch on what was going on in her mind just after she learned she was pregnant. This is going to be a somewhat angsty chapter, so know what you're reading._**

_**Chapter Six:**_

_One week later:_

Everyone in the lab was ecstatic about the news that had drifted around the examination tables that their own chief forensic anthropologist had a bun in the oven, especially with one, particularly attractive F.B.I agent. Almost four and a half years of tension and awkwardness were finally behind the anthropology unit at the Jeffersonian. Sure, the bickering wouldn't stop and maybe even increase in frequency, but that was ignorable. No longer would anyone have to worry about saying something stupid or inappropriate to try to shove Brennan and Booth together. Normalcy would return to the lab. All would be fine.

Until one Dr. Lance Sweets had caught wind of what was happening. His patients had still refused to tell him their business and he had actually learned of Brennan's pregnancy through Deputy Director Cullen. He'd called him into his office to get his opinion on whether he should break up his dream team.

Sweets, shocked by the little newsflash, called both Brennan and Booth in for an 'emergency therapy session'. The two drove to the J. Edgar Hoover building in quiet thoughts.

"He must've found out. Why else would he need to see us this very second?" Brennan quietly mumbled as she watched the buildings go by outside her window.

"Yeah. Are you gonna be okay up there?" Booth asked as he slowed to a stop at a red light.

"What do you mean?" she looked over in his direction.

"If he does know, Bones, it probably means that when we told Cullen, he asked Sweets whether or not we should be broken up." he continued through the intersection and pulled into the F.B.I underground garage.

"They've threatened us with that before and they've never had the nerve to do it. They know you're the only F.B.I agent I'll work with." Brennan chuckled despite her currently darkened mood.

"It's not like that anymore, Bones. This is a whole new ballgame. We go up there and that twerp's going to be asking us all different questions, gauging our reactions, basically telling us our fate as partner's rests in the palm of his hand." he reasoned.

"All of which he's done to us before." she reminded him.

Booth sighed. "We better get going before he sends a swat team after us."

Brennan could tell he was upset. Booth really thought this was a life or death situation and she wasn't making it any easier on him. She couldn't let it get to her, though. If she even allowed herself to think about not working with Booth anymore, the mood swings she was already experiencing would show just how angry, mean, and hurt Temperance Brennan could be.

They rode the elevator up to the correct floor in complete silence. There wasn't a whole lot to say at this point as the pair walked through the bullpen of the F.B.I. Several heads turned their way as they passed by desks and offices. These looks weren't from the rumors that were milling about the minds of the agents or the facts that were already known. The pair caught the attention simply because they weren't speaking. They didn't hear Brennan's facts pouring out at the seams or Booth's sarcastic remarks on a case they'd been working. Just silence. Left foot, right foot. His were quiet while the heels of her boots clicked across the floor.

They disappeared behind the door that was marked as Lance Sweets' and understood. Brennan and Booth were walking to the metaphorical electric chair.

Sharon, Sweets long-time assistant, waved them right on in, letting them know he was waiting for them. Both took a deep breath, sighed, and went through the door like just like all the other visits they'd made to this claustrophobic little room, and took their seats without a sound.

Lance Sweets sat across the coffee table from them in his own chair, shuffling papers, already knowing how he was going to get the ball in motion. "It's amazing, really."

After a pause, Brennan asked, "What is?"

"What people will go through just to protect a relationship."

"Sweets, come on, we've only known about this for a week ourselves." Booth tried to defend.

"Obviously it was enough time to inform Cullen. And the chatter I heard in the break room this morning only proves that hot gossip spreads like wildfire." he shrugged.

Brennan rolled her wrist. "Well, now you know. I'm pregnant, it's Booth's baby, and we're going to be parents. Now you've heard it from the mouth of the horse."

"Horse's mouth, Bones." Booth automatically corrected.

Brennan rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders as Sweets took up his interrogation. "Let's talk about this for a minute. How did all of this come about, anyway?"

"I'm not following." Brennan looked to Booth and then to Sweets.

Sweets sat up straighter, "Clearly the two of you had to perform the act of sexual intercourse in order to conceive, so how did that happen." He looked to Booth, "And don't you dare start with that 'when a man and woman care about each other _very _much' bit. I know that part."

Booth had to force back a grin before speaking. "We were drunk. Bones had Mai Tais and I had whiskey after our last case closed a month ago. I took her back to her apartment, I kissed her on the cheek, she kissed me on the lips, yadda yadda yadda, we slept together. A real nail-biter."

Sweets nodded, happy that Booth was willing to share even that much. He turned his attention towards Brennan. "Okay. Now what led you to believe that you were pregnant, Dr. Brennan."

She breathed slowly. "A few week's later, I was edgier and more moody than usual and I realized that I'd missed my menstrual cycle for this last month. At first I brushed it off and didn't think much of it," she looked over at Booth, "we just started seeing each other romantically and I thought that maybe I was just a little stressed or tired. Angela went out and got the tests just to put my mind at ease that I wasn't, and sure enough I was pregnant."

He thought over her words before replying, "Right…alright. So when you knew you were pregnant, did you think about aborting it?"

Brennan watched her fingernails pick at each other, suddenly feeling two pairs of eyes on her now. "Not really."

"What does 'not really' mean?" Sweets prodded.

She saw that coming. "It's a frightening thing…learning that you're pregnant. I thought about it for all of a second before I realized that even if I didn't want it, I would give it up for adoption before I'd let someone cut it out of me."

"_If_ you didn't want it?"

Brennan could feel him coming dangerously close to that borderline that separated 'annoying prying' with 'none of your business personal'. "You know that I wanted a baby last summer."

"Yes, but that was going to be an artificial insemination and Booth was going to be little more than a donor in that aspect."

"Hey!" Booth chimed in, not liking the label that was being placed on him.

"Sorry, but it's true. He came down with that brain tumor and you didn't go through with it, even though you'd already gotten what you wanted from him. Why is that?" Sweets crossed his legs and listened intently.

A little more than irritated, Brennan replied, "I was sitting by his bedside, willing him out of a coma."

"Why?"

"Because he's my partner and one of my best friends. I would've done it for Angela or Cam or Hodgins if the situation arose."

"Yes, but you sat there all night and all day until Angela would finally show up to tell you to go home and get some rest."

"Why are you questioning my loyalty to my partner?"

"I don't mean for it to sound like that."

"Hey! Enough!" Booth put his hand in between the two fighting parties. He held it out to protect Brennan, telling Sweets to back off.

Brennan waited several breaths, several heartbeats, and several painstaking seconds before she spoke her mind. "What do you want me say, Dr. Sweets? Do you want me to tell you why I want this baby? Do you want me to tell you why I sat by my partner's bedside when he needed me? You don't need either of those because it all boils down to one, simple question that's like distinguishing day from night. Am I in love with Seeley Joseph Booth? Yes or no? Am I right or am I right?" she seethed.

Booth would never admit it, but as Brennan stood behind their chairs, speaking in a very loud tone of voice, he was a little intimidated.

Sweets backed down considerably. "I think I have the answer to that question already."

"Possibly, but I don't want a shadow of a doubt in your pea brain. I…_love_…Seeley…Booth with everything that I am. You can quote me when you go to Cullen. And when you split us up for 'emotional problems that affect our work', you can sit there and explain to him why the Jeffersonian cut itself off from the F.B.I. Because, frankly Sweets, I like you, believe it or not, I do. But you have no right to sit there and question my humanity or my values. I'm done." Brennan was seeing red as she strode out of Sweets office with her head held high.

Booth sat low in his chair for about thirty seconds before he stood up and stretched. He turned around at the door. "Even I could've seen that coming."

He was walking through the bullpen when his phone vibrated in his pocket.

_1 New Message from: Bones_

_In car, waiting on u._

He found her in the passenger seat of the SUV, massaging the headache that was beginning to form behind her eyes.

"I just went and screwed our best shot at staying partners, didn't I?" Brennan didn't look up, not wanting to fall into that abyss of chocolate warmth.

"It doesn't really matter, Bones. You and I are going to be together one way or another. And I gotta tell you, that impromptu speech you gave back there? Unbelievably hot."

She laughed then, the first real laugh he'd heard from her today. He brought his lips to hers in one fluid motion. Brennan let go of herself for a few moments in the warmth that emanated from his entire body. The gentle hand that snuck underneath her hair to lightly massage her neck set her whole figure aflame. When his lips moved down to join said hand, she only had four small words to say.

"Your place is closer."

Booth smiled and drove like a bat out of Hell.

* * *

Sweets stood in the doorway of Cullen's office only a few hours after his awkward session with his two favorite patients. It was after five, so the bullpen essentially felt like a ghost town. Sweets understood that what he was about to report was probably wrong, but he had to let it be known.

"It's open." Cullen called from the other side, his deep voice obstructed only slightly by the oak door.

"Sir? I've formed my opinion on Brennan and Booth." he stated as he entered his superior's office.

"Good or bad?" he asked.

"I'm not quite sure." Sweets replied honestly.

"Well, let's here it." Cullen leaned back into his chair, readying himself for a long story.

Sweets took a seat in front of his boss's desk. "I'm not really sure where to start. Dr. Brennan isn't as black and white to me anymore."

"What do you mean?"

He drew in a breath, "Well, Dr. Brennan has always struck me as an extremely self-reliant and rational person. While I know that she'd defend herself, she made something else perfectly clear in my office today." Sweets pulled out the miniature tape recorder and played back the occurrence that happened in his office earlier that day.

Cullen listened intently. He knew Dr. Brennan was stubborn, even a little…spirited…at times. But hearing, in depth, what was going on inside her own mind and heart was more than a bit unsettling. "Wow."

"My thoughts exactly. I had no idea she was capable of something this deep. It's almost unsettling how attached she's become to Agent Booth." Sweets continued.

"So what do we do about it?"

* * *

"Shouldn't he be back by now?" Hodgins paced the floor of Brennan's office. Angela and Cam sat on opposite ends of the couch while Brennan was behind her desk. All were impatiently awaiting Booth's arrival.

He had walked in with Brennan that morning when he had gotten a call from Cullen asking him for a few minutes of his time when he clocked in. They'd looked at each other with anxious expressions before He'd kissed the top of her head and left for the F.B.I building. The others had caught wind of the F.B.I considering severing their partnership for good and had flocked to Brennan's office to provide some means of comfort.

That was approximately an hour and a half ago.

"Hodgins, you do realize that you're just filling us with confidence right now, don't you?" Angela's voice was drenched in sarcasm.

"It doesn't really matter anymore. I think you guys should go back to work now." Brennan said dejectedly.

"No way, Sweetie, we're staying." Angela replied, trying to cheer up her friend.

"Angela, it's not possible that they're going to let us stay together now." Brennan doodled aimlessly on a legal pad, trying to make some sense of what was going on.

"Bren, what are you talking about?" she prodded.

Brennan sighed, "Sweets sat there, in his office, asking me if I'd thought about aborting the baby and why I sat next to Booth in the hospital for four days and I…told him the reason why and I just kinda…blew up."

Angela knew 'the reason'. She'd felt 'the reason' many times before. Temperance Brennan was head-over-heels falling down love drunk. It was as obvious as a shot. She looked over to Cam, who acknowledged and motioned that she knew it too. Hodgins just looked obliviously between the two.

Booth appeared in the doorway about this time. He didn't look any more optimistic then Brennan had ten seconds ago.

"Well?" the three squints said in unison while Brennan rubbed at her eyes again.

Booth swallowed hard and Brennan picked up on the slight cue. She closed the few feet between them in a flash and wrapped her arms around him snuggly. He returned the favor a second later, and the team's hopes took a skydive without a parachute.

"Permanent?" Brennan asked.

"Temporary. I guess he wants to see how irritated I can get."

Brennan steered him towards the couch and told him to sit. Booth sat in between her and Cam on the couch while Hodgins and Angela took the seats opposite.

"What happened, big guy?" Cam asked.

Booth shrugged, "I'm not really sure. I went into his office and Sweets was there. I thought that was brave of the little squirt. Cullen started rambling on about how we do such good work together, but we have issues that need resolving. I remember asking 'what issues?' and things just started to take a downturn from there."

Brennan tried to ease her nerves. "What issues, specifically?"

Booth poked her in the stomach. "He said we need some time to adjust to changing realities."

"How long?" Angela asked.

"One month, max. He said if my work takes a big enough hit, he'll move it down to two weeks." he summed up.

"Doesn't sound like he was too keen on the idea to begin with." Brennan looked down at her crossed ankles.

"I think Sweets talked him into it. Push our buttons, see how we react, all that nonsense. Cullen won't go for permanent separation. We're his dream team." Booth got a chuckle from the squints, despite the consequences. "He gave me the day off, too. Try to make up for it, I suppose."

"But it's Friday." Brennan reasoned.

"Which means three-day-weekend for me." he said without much excitement.

Everyone sat in silence for a few minutes before it really was time for them to be getting back to work. Angela and Hodgins left for their stations while Cam lingered behind.

"Dr. Brennan, before you try to fight me on this, you haven't taken a day to yourself since you came back from Guatemala. I think it would be rather appropriate if you took today off." Cam reasoned.

No one obviously had to ask Brennan twice. "I'll take you up on that. Thanks, Cam."

"Don't mention it." she smiled before starting the trek back to Autopsy.

The two of them looked at each other for a solid minute, trying to read each other's thoughts, before Booth finally spoke up. "So…"

"Move in with me?"

His head retreated several inches to check to make sure she was serious. "What?"

"Booth, I love you. More than the next breath I'm going to take. And I realize that this means some form of commitment is involved with a proposition of this sort, but let's face facts. There's no one else for me and I'm pretty sure the same goes for you. It'll be you, me, and…" she patted her stomach, "this little one. And you're over at my apartment six out of seven nights a week anyway. Living together really isn't that big of a-" he cut her off with one of the sweetest kisses she'd ever received.

"I think it's a great idea, Bones."

**_Now don't any of you go psycho on me and leave me nasty reviews about Brennan and Booth being split up. It's just something I feel that they need to go through both as partners and lovers. THEY WILL BE REUNITED AND SWEETS WILL BE REDEEMED, for those of you who think I portrayed him as a jerk. I'll just tell you that it wasn't his fault. Please review and stay with me?_**


	7. To Every Man His Own Bones

_**So, like I promised, Sweets redeems himself. And nobody should worry, I've got some ideas floating around in my head so all of this isn't fluffy and nonsense...like I usually write XD. **_

_**Chapter Seven:**_

_-Sunday Night-_

The weekend had been nothing but pure bliss. Brennan and Booth had spent what was left of Friday and that night in Brennan's bedroom with the door locked. It had been too late to start moving his stuff halfway across town, so Brennan had suggested going back to her place for a little 'R&R'. The pair decided to get a decent night's rest though, and nodded off about midnight.

Saturday morning greeted them at about eight o' clock. However, morning friskiness didn't have them getting up until well past nine. That day was spent hauling Booth's belongings over to Brennan's apartment and some of the bigger items to a storage locker that Brennan had started renting with the intent to ask him to move in with her.

Now, as Booth sat on the couch amongst the piles of boxes and tubs that were scattered around her living room, he couldn't imagine himself any happier. Here he was, living with his pregnant Bones. It was almost too far gone to be a reality.

What was even better was she'd turned up with his good bottle of scotch and a single glass. "What are you thinking about?" she asked as she poured him an inch of the brown liquid.

"Nothing really. Just happy." he accepted the glass she offered and motioned for her to sit down next to him. Brennan accepted his invitation and had just gotten comfortable alongside him when her doorbell rang.

She groaned loudly and sprinted to the oak door that separated her apartment from the hallway outside. It was a little more than surprising when Dr. Lance Sweets stood on the other side.

"Yes?" her tone was completely flat.

"I went by Agent Booth's and it was empty. I thought he might be here." Sweets didn't sound good at all. His voice was somewhere between intoxicated and a frog in his throat.

"You were right, but what is it that you want?" Brennan asked.

"I need to talk to the two of you. Mend bridges and olive branches and all of that." he stated.

Brennan breathed, "I know that this is awkward, but both of us aren't really inept to talking right to you right now." she tried to close the door, but his foot formed the wedge to keep it open.

"When are either of you _wanting_ to talk to me? Listen, I know that you both think that I'm the reason you two got the short end of the stick, but you're wrong." Sweets said, exasperated. "Ten minutes, that's all I need."

She looked at him quizzically, thinking maybe he was trying to pull the wool over her eyes just to make himself feel better. But there was something about his disheveled appearance that made Brennan take some pity on him. She opened the door wider and motioned him in.

Booth had heard the entire conversation, despite how hushed and whispered it was. "What do you mean it's not your fault we got the shaft?"

Sweets sighed, "When I went to Cullen to give him my analysis, I told him that the pros of keeping the two of you together outweigh the cons. I told him the two of you are too valuable to the F.B.I to separate you, knowing that Dr. Brennan won't work with anyone else." he stated.

Brennan looked at Sweets, then to Booth, who was staring at her. "What do you think?" she asked him.

Booth hated to admit that he thought that the little rug rat was telling the truth. They had no one else to blame should he say so. It wasn't fair to Sweets, though. "He's telling the truth."

The young psychologist felt a giant weight being lifted off his shoulders at the simple words and was relieved. Brennan's eyes remained fixed on Booth though, "Then why did Cullen seem so unhappy about splitting us when it was his own decision?"

"It wasn't. When I was meeting with Cullen, telling him all of this," he stated, making sure that they were aware that he hadn't betrayed them. "he got a phone call, and as it turns out, the ax came down above his head and his superior made the call."

Booth slouched, "Hacker."

Sweets nodded sullenly. "He even asked _me _if I thought that the two of you were more than just partners."

"What did you tell him?" Brennan asked, on the edge of the seat she'd taken now.

"It was before I heard about you two and way before I knew you were pregnant, so it was all just conjecture at the time. I told him that I doubted that the two of you could keep a secret very long. I was partially right." he added at the end.

The partners were both silent for a moment in thought, wondering what the best course of action was. Booth was the first to break the silence.

"You know that if it was his decision to split us, he wants me out of the way to ask you out." he stated.

"It's the only motive he had. Our working relationship hasn't changed at all since we started seeing each other like this." she reasoned.

"Well…what do you wanna do?" he asked.

Brennan thought about it for a few seconds. "Ignore it. We'll be back together in a month at the most. Besides, he can't steal me from you just because we're not working as a team." she got up and ruffled his hair. "I'm your Bones."

Booth chuckled and patted her hand gently, slightly more than happy that his own nickname for her floated on her voice so easily.

Sweets was fascinated by the transaction between the two of them. His suspicions of they're underlying love for each other had been confirmed long ago, but to see the actual outcome of that passion and misunderstanding had swelled his heart up with the thought that he did something good by them. "I'll see you tomorrow, Agent Booth." he signed off and showed himself out the door, leaving them to their own devices.

* * *

"Mr. Vaziri, did you make note of this cranial fracture?" Brennan asked her intern of the day.

It was near lunchtime that Monday in the Medico-Legal lab. The day had been spent Limbo skeletons and examinations that the museum needed conducted. It was almost weird how quietly and efficiently the lab and it's scientists worked.

"Yes, Dr. Brennan. It looked as though the fracture was caused by a singular sharp blow 'crack' to the top of the head with something rectangular like a pry bar." he confirmed as he scribbled the note on the clipboard in his hand.

"Dr. Brennan?" Cam stuck her head in the crack she made with the door into the bone room. "Director Hacker's in your office. I told him you were busy, but he insists on seeing you."

Brennan breathed slowly. In and out. "Alright. Excellent work, Mr. Vaziri. Continue and call if you need help." she said with a small smile. The intern smiled back a little and got an extra bounce in his step as he looked back at the skeleton.

Cam watched this transaction between student and teacher and had to wonder why she hadn't shoved Brennan to Booth in the past. She was becoming more personable while at the same time just being…happier. It was so peaceful, she could hardly believe it as she walked back to her own office.

Brennan saw through the windows of her office that Andrew Hacker had made himself comfortable on her couch. It irked her that the reason she wasn't out in the field, working on murders, with her partner, was cozy in her own sanctuary. She didn't acknowledge his presence as she strode in, shucking off her lab coat and sat herself behind her desk, checking her inbox.

"Uh…Hello?" she heard the voice from the couch, but didn't look up.

"Yeah?" Brennan replied as she scanned through the email from one of her students.

"You know, Dr. Brennan, I never did get that rain check from you? How does lunch sound?" he stepped up to her desk and gave her a broad smile.

Brennan met his eyes, "You must've heard, it's all over the F.B.I building that Booth and I are together." she said as she rubbed her eyes.

He seemed shocked, "Oh…that was true?"

"Yes, this time it's true. As to your other question, I have plans…" she trailed off.

"For awhile to come. I get it." he turned to leave.

"If you didn't know about us, then why did you motion Booth's and my separation?" she asked, slightly surprised that he didn't already know the news.

He looked back at her disappointedly, "Call it a last chance moment." he said and left.

Brennan sat in thought for a moment, but only a moment before her thoughts were alleviated by Booth walking towards her office with boxes from Wong Foo's.

"My boss try to hit on you again?" he asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, but he didn't know about us. Just moved for us to be broken up out of the goodness of his heart." she replied.

"Doesn't matter, right?" he stated as he kissed her hair.

She smiled at him, bright and honestly. "Right."

**_Awww...yes, yes, I know, it's fluffy to no end. Please review, though. I need the inspiration of your comments to keep this going. XD_**


	8. A Pain In The Heart

_**Well, I'm in an angsty mood, as you will be able to tell. And this was just a thought I had this morning. My good buddy, Coilerfan35, and I were talking last night about a certain agent that we both despise (Agent Timothy Sullivan) and I know that some people like him, but I just felt I needed to write this. Probably out of character, but I'm pretty proud of it.**_

_**Chapter Eight:**_

_-A Few Days Later-_

Brennan gingerly crawled into her empty bed, willing her body to fight against the pain in her torso.

It was now her fifth week pregnant. She had all the symptoms of a mother not very far along. The nausea and fatigue were the worst of these and they only seemed to be happening in the morning. A slow starting morning she wouldn't mind so much. However, the throbbing ache in her shoulders and chest had nothing to do with being knocked up.

Angela and Cam had driven her home at five, not letting her work a minute past five, even thought the doctor they'd taken to beforehand had suggested she go home and rest. They'd gotten her some ibuprofen and made her some tea before she started asking them to leave, feeling like an incompetent child. They knew there wasn't a whole lot they could do for Brennan at this stage, so the women reluctantly left. As they walked down the corridor to the elevator, they had one comment each.

"In all my time in the Bronx, I don't think I've ever seen anyone _that _tough." Cam mumbled.

"That's our Bren for you." Angela's voice cracked as one single tear trekked down her cheek.

All Brennan wanted to do now was to sleep, but she was sure that wasn't going to be coming any time soon. It was now seven, and Booth would be home soon. She hoped to be asleep by the time he came into the bedroom so he'd just nuzzle up beside her and be content. But if she was still awake, she was going to have some explaining to do.

She'd finally found a not-so-painful position on her side and had just turned out the bedside lamp when she heard the latch of the door click and the deadbolt slip into place. He was home.

Brennan heard the keys clatter on the counter as he would slip out of his suit jacket and drape it over the back of the couch. With nothing to do in the living room, he would sneak into the room, trying to be considerate and not wake her. Booth would strip to his boxers and undershirt and slide into bed next to her.

All of this happened just in the way she predicted it to…until he tried to burrow into her shoulder and she whimpered at the sting it caused.

The shift in weight was hardly noticeable because of the foam mattress, but she still felt it.

"Bones, why are you still awake? Better yet, what are you doing in bed so early?" he asked, his hand still resting against her hip.

She opened her eyes, only one visible while the other one was hidden into the pillow. "How did you know?"

"I didn't. You just told me."

Brennan closed her eyes again, angry at him for his stupid word games.

Booth turned on the light on her side of the bed, knowing now that she was indeed fully awake. "What's wrong, baby?"

"I'm not a baby, and I can't be tired?" she didn't meet his eyes. Her focus was centered on the corner of her nightstand.

"Of course you can be tired, but why so early? You're going to end up waking up at three in the morning." his hand closed around her shoulder.

Booth didn't have to hear the whimper, even though he did. He felt the jolt of electricity that shot through her body at his touch.

"Bones?" he tried to turn her over, but she gripped the edge of the bed tight.

"You have to promise me not to get mad." she said quietly.

He ground his teeth together. Booth knew this woman like the back of his hand. Along with that, he'd seen too many women battered to know how they act and the lengths they'd go to in order to keep it a secret. "I can't make that promise, Bones. Just let me see."

She didn't want to, but the pressure on her side was beginning to make her aching shoulder feel like it was on pins and needles. Brennan reluctantly rolled, making the damage visible.

Booth took in a sharp breath. A giant purple spot had formed already around her eye and the once mystic blue eye had been dyed red from the broken blood vessels. Her neck had battle scars all its own in the fingertip-shaped bruises that adorned it. He tried to avert his eyes to the black dress shirt (his shirt) and saw a red mark peek out from the shoulder. He unbuttoned three of the clasps, realizing how much work it must've taken her to get it on and buttoned evenly. Her clavicle looked as though it was stretching her skin and muscles painfully. Both shoulders and the upper part of her chest was covered in red and blue splotches. The pale veins were visible through her skin, along with the pulse point in her neck. It was almost ironic. That was the only color Booth was seeing at this moment.

His hands trembled violently, the rage that was now boiling his heart had taken over his mind. His voice contradicted him, though, sounding lost and hopeless. "Who the hell did this to you?"

Brennan tried to calm him, "Booth, he got arrested. It doesn't-"

"Temperance!" he shouted, "Who?!"

She recoiled into the mattress a bit more and guarded herself with her hands.

Her defense broke through his anger as he watched her, blocking the punch he would never throw. Booth's eyes softened and then watered. He'd rather die than hurt her.

"Hey, I'm sorry." he moved her hands down to look at her face again. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you." Booth sat up and lifted her into his arms, taking a gentler approach to the subject. "What happened to you, Temperance?"

Brennan snuggled closer, despite the pain, as she relived her day.

~*~

_-Jeffersonian Institute: Earlier That Day-_

"Ms. Wick, these microscopic vertebral punctures, they strike you as unusual?" Brennan asked the optimistic intern.

"There are some on the backs of the ribs, too. They look like someone got a very bad acupuncture job." she replied.

Brennan was in a good enough mood that she enjoyed the humor, even happier that she understood what someone was talking about for once. "I'm going to let you take a closer look at these by yourself. Angela needs me to run through some simulations with her. You know where to find me." she instructed.

"Yep. No problem, Dr. Brennan." she commented cheerily.

Brennan smiled and stepped out of the bone room. Since the mummy case a couple months ago, she was starting to see where her most ambitious intern was coming from in her over-eagerness.

The pulled back curtains in her office. There was a male figure in her office, in a suit. She assumed it was some F.B.I agent was trying to stand in for Booth's replacement again. Hacker had sent over three different agents, all saying they were reassigned as her new partner. She sent them all back with the same message:_ I don't work with anyone but Booth._

"When are you guys going to take a hint?" she asked, not turning to face him. "I've told both Cullen and Hacker to stop sending people. It's not worth while." she shuffled through the files that Cam left on her desk. Toxicology reports and tissue analysis of their countless other bodies took precedence over another bureau drone.

"Well, I wouldn't say it wasn't worth my while coming over here." the man stated.

Brennan froze mid-sentence and would've dropped the files had her palms not started to sweat profusely. She set the papers down slowly, trying to halt the chill that ran up her spine. "Agent Sullivan."

"That's a little formal, Bren. Whatever happened to Sully?" he joked and stepped up to her back, running a finger along the tops of her shoulders.

"Stop that." she said harshly. "What do you want?"

His hand dropped to his side, "Jeez, Tempe, what's wrong? You used to like that. Said it gave you chills." he taunted.

She turned to him. "I said it made my nerve endings jump as an involuntary reaction to being touched so lightly. It had nothing to do with being cold." she clarified.

Sully held up his hands in surrender. "What's wrong with you?"

"You made me uncomfortable." Brennan stated as she walked around her desk and shoved the files into the appropriate slot. "I found an appropriate way to make myself comfortable again. Didn't know it was illegal." she muttered her last sentence.

"Is it bad that I showed up here or something?" he asked.

Brennan met his eyes, "It would make me feel better if you weren't here." she mumbled. It surprised her that her mood went from happy to extremely annoyed in less than five minutes.

"Tempe, I don't know what you're problem is. I came back to D.C to see you, like I promised." he sounded offended.

She had about twenty seconds to process that, in fact, almost three years ago, he said he'd come back for her a year. She believed he would come back in a year, but after another year had passed, she decided it was likely he wasn't coming back. Brennan also started believing her feelings for Booth were more than just a partner/physical thing. Now that she knew what those feelings were, she couldn't understand why he was even there.

"You said a year, Agent Sullivan, and I waited a year. Not a single interest. And when a year went by, I was done putting my life on hold for you." she stated over her ringing cell phone before picking it up. "Brennan…oh, you can't make it?…no, I get it. I've had to work through lunch before, too…don't worry about it…okay, I'll see you tonight…love you, too." she felt spiteful returning that last comment that Booth made to her over the phone, but it was the truth. Temperance Brennan prided herself on speaking her mind.

She hung up the phone as he looked at her with hurt eyes. "Who was that?"

Brennan shook her head. "Irrelevant. I moved on. You should do the same." she stated it as simply as though she was talking about a skeleton.

"Temperance." he took a firm grip of her shoulders. His voice was filled with venom, along with the look in his eyes. Neither showed a trace of tenderness.

"Let me go, Sullivan." she didn't moved, nor did her expression change. Brennan wasn't a woman that scared easily. She would have to admit, however, the look he was giving her was unsettling. His eyes weren't as clear as what was considered normal. They were almost a little glassy.

"Not again." he throttled her and shoved her up against the wall. She was taken aback, but was more concerned with getting both of her feet back on the ground.

"You think this is a _game_? You toss my emotions aside because there was nothing better to do." he tightened his grip as she tried to breathe, only to be met by her blocked windpipe. Her body didn't respond to the commands she gave it. She couldn't kick, she couldn't fight,…she couldn't scream.

"You don't know what love is, Temperance. You know you don't know what love is, and you never will now." he threw her to the ground as she coughed and panted. Before she could even begin to crawl away, he was on top of her, and he had her throat again. She saw the fist before it came into contact with her face and she was blind in said eye. Brennan didn't focus on fighting back. Her maternal instincts, despite the few she had, kicked in as she curled into the fetal position and crossed her hands over her stomach, protecting what was growing there.

She couldn't tell when Daisy had come in. It had felt like an eternity. She just remembered seeing her grad student's eyes grow wide in horror before she heard "SECURITY!" and she tackled him off of her professor.

"You think it's fun beating on expectant mothers?!" Brennan heard the high female voice yell before there were rapid footfalls and people calling her name. She passed out then.

~*~

"When I came to, Angela and Cam took me to the emergency room. They said it looked worse than it really was. Sully got arrested and the police said he was on steroids." Brennan whispered. She didn't have the strength to use a full voice when she was right next to Booth's ear.

"What about-?" Booth started to ask before she stopped him.

"It's fine, the baby's fine." she reassured. "They took a sonogram and said the attachment's strong, but if he hit me in the stomach like he had to give me this…" she gestured to her black eye. "I probably would've lost it."

Booth stroked her back in soothing circles. His gentle touch was very contradictory to the thoughts that were racing through his head. He decided to say something so she wouldn't get scared by his silence. "Looks like a lot of people are into you, Bones."

She smiled, despite the throb that was still in her jaw. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. Not many people are going to want to be looking at me when I look like this."

"I don't care what other people think. You're still the most beautiful woman in the world." he stated.

"You can't know that." Brennan didn't want to argue, but it was a reflex.

"Doesn't matter, Bones. I think you're beautiful both inside and out, and that's all I need to know to come to that conclusion." he stated.

She shrugged, then winced at the discomfort the action caused. "Can we sleep now, Booth? I'm hurting everywhere and I just want to go to sleep." Brennan tightened her arms around him.

"Of course, Bones." he managed to process the thought to sink down into their bed a little further and pull the blankets up around them.

"There's something else, too." she said quietly. "Please don't go sneaking out in the middle of the night. I need you here. Promise me?"

Booth looked down, "How did you…?"

"That whole mind-reading thing can go both ways. Promise me." she repeated.

"I promise, Bones. I won't go on a tirade of vengeance in the middle of the night." he said. Booth silently added to himself _'I'll save it for tomorrow.'_

* * *

Booth walked into the claustrophobic interrogation room that was the local police's favorite. Chained to the chair that was in front of the small table was one former Agent Timothy Sullivan. Booth looked at his prey, rolling up his shirt sleeves.

"Cops tell me you don't remember what happened yesterday, Sullivan."

"They filled me in. You have to know I wasn't in my right frame of mind, Booth. I'd never hurt Tempe!" Sully tried to explain himself.

"I'd like to believe you, Sullivan, but the facts say otherwise." Booth rolled his shoulders and straightened his back. "Let me fill you in on a little something. When someone threatens and beats the woman I love,…the mother of my unborn child,…it doesn't get you very many brownie points with me."

Sully was silent for a long moment, then " God, I'm sorry, Booth. I didn't know that was you she was talking to on the phone."

"Oh, so you were there when I was on the phone with her?" Booth asked.

Sully sighed, "Yeah…I guess so."

"Here's a little piece of advice Sullivan." Booth's voice dropped several octaves and was harsh with emotion. "Stay away from her. You come near her again, you've got me to deal with. And out of anyone on this Earth, I'm probably the one who's most likely to get away with murder."

Booth turned to leave, but not before giving the incarcerated lowlife the hardest right-hook he'd ever given anyone.

"That's for Bones." he said before he left and didn't look back.

**_Well? Is it out of character? A little too angsty? I need suggestions, my loyal followers! What do you want to see from me? Click that green button and leave me your thoughts. XD_**


	9. Mending Bridges

_**Well, I know some of you were confused by last week's installment, but what I was trying to get at was that we really didn't know Sully after almost three years without him there. I hope this chapter brings some of that out into the open. Someone also suggested that I put Max into the mix. I will, I'm just uncertain where yet. XD Happy reading.**_

_**Chapter Nine:**_

_-Saturday Morning-_

The weekend, as Brennan once thought of it, was a time to get into work and finish what would need to be done and to prepare for the new week that would start that Monday. Limbo skeletons would be identified, paperwork would be completed and sent out to the appropriate mailboxes, and some of her more passionate students would be filling her inbox with questions regarding their dissertations. _This_ was how a normal Saturday morning would start in the life of Dr. Temperance Brennan.

Angela had once pointed out to her that the whole purpose for the week was for the weekend. The late brunches, nights out on the town, and lazy mornings had never appealed to her thoughts of what was fun or relaxing. Brennan's opinion had started to shift, however, when she started waking up in the arms of Seeley Booth.

If the bile hadn't risen in her throat like an unexpected flood, she would've reveled in the feeling of being cocooned by his strong body. She reluctantly rose and ran for the bathroom as fast as her feet could carry her. Brennan knew she had waken him when she tore herself free of his grasp, and if that hadn't cut it, he'd certainly hear her.

Booth acted on autopilot when he heard the sound emanating from the bathroom. He held the brown curls away from her face and dabbed a cool washcloth at forehead and cheeks after she had finished emptying her stomach.

"Was that the first time?" he asked.

She didn't get to answer. Brennan felt the new wave come over her as she leaned into the white porcelain bowl she was sure she was going to become fast friends with over the course of the next few weeks.

"And that was the second." she deadpanned.

He smiled at her sympathetically. The bruises that lined her chest had healed up rather quickly, but the black eye that was adorning her face wasn't as nice. The color had only lightened a little and her left eye looked the same clear blue color as it's mate. That was about as much as her body would allow it to heal at the moment.

"Don't look at me like that." Brennan's weak voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Don't look at you like what?" he asked.

"All pity party and whatnot." she stated.

"Didn't mean to look piteous." Booth kissed her hair, then lifted her into his arms and set her down on the small chair next to the vanity. She regained her bearings and went on to brush her teeth and take a shower; both things that Booth joined her on. Brennan decided on her favorite pair of maroon sweatpants and a black tank top. He was slightly surprised when he saw her form buried under the covers again.

"Are you alright, Bones?" Booth asked as he pulled on his own sweats and sat down next to the lump her body made in the blankets.

"Ugh…I have a bad headache." she whimpered as he saw two lumps move around in circles around her the bigger lump that he knew was her head.

Booth ducked his head under the blankets to meet her eyes. "Splitting or throbbing?" he asked, a thumb skittering across her knuckles.

"Neither, just a steady ache." she clarified. "The intensity of the sunlight is hurting my optic nerves."

"Coffee?" Booth inquired.

"Tea, if it's not too much trouble?" Brennan asked.

He smiled at her and made his way into the kitchen. Booth had set the machine for half a pot of coffee while boiling the water for her tea when he heard the annoying ringing of his cell phone coming from his jacket pocket. He mentally kicked himself for forgetting to turn it off the night before and checked the caller ID before flipping it open.

"Good morning, Camille." Booth smiled.

"Hey, big man, something's up." Cam responded, her voice at a lack of all emotion other than sincerity.

"What's up?"

* * *

Brennan was curled up into a ball with her head sandwiched between two pillows, desperate to stop that infernal ringing that resounded through the walls of her brain. She heard him return to the room and set what was probably the two mugs, one tea and one coffee, on the bedside table. She felt Booth climb back in between the covers, his cold feet caressing her own size seven ice cubes.

"May I have my pillow back, madam?" he mocked. Brennan smiled despite her pain and threw it behind her in his general direction. She rolled to her other side to see that his eyes were exactly at her level, barely two inches away from her.

"Cam called." Booth stated.

"What's going on?" Brennan asked, her voice not needing to be above a whisper.

"She's been called into an emergency performance evaluation regarding us. Apparently Cullen found out that the only reason Hacker split us was to get his crack at you and he was M-A-D." he restated the info that Cam had relayed to him.

Brennan's eyebrows rose, "Why would she need to go? Shouldn't we be the ones they want to talk to if they want to know the facts?"

"They want to talk to Cam because she's your boss and co-worker. She said they wanted her for an objective analysis of us when we work together and this last week we've been apart." he said, reaching out to take her hand into both of his own. "She said Sweets and Cullen are going to be there with Mueller being the judge."

"Who's Mueller again?" Brennan's memory went hazy.

"He's my boss's-boss's-boss's-boss. He's a good guy, even though people make him out to be really lazy. He's sides with Cullen on almost everything just because they're good friends and golf buddies." he joked.

"So…there's a chance that we'll be back together." she asked, then at his nod thought it through, "So our fate as partners rests in the hands of a pathologist, a psychiatrist, and your boss?"

"Yes." Booth confirmed.

Brennan drank in this bit of information before seeking out Booth's arms to hold her, perhaps a little desperate for that wonderful feeling she had when she'd first woken up.

* * *

Christopher Mueller was considered a very laid back man. He knew how to take stressful situations and make everyone around him feel at ease with whatever was happening. That was what anyone at the J. Edgar Hoover Building would've told you should you ask.

Dr. Camille Saroyan wouldn't have told you that he was easy-going. If you asked her what she thought of Mr. Mueller, she would've told you he was a _big _guy. At six-foot-four and approximately two hundred and ninety pounds, he was a giant among humans.

Sweets and Cullen were already there (no surprise, they worked there) when she walked into the conference room. She nodded to the pair of them and took the nearest seat.

"So, lady and gentlemen, lets get this wrapped up so we can actually have a halfway decent Saturday, shall we?" Mueller was all smiles, a complete contrast to most of the F.B.I heads that Cam was used to meeting with. "What have you got for me, Sam?

"Well…" Cullen retold the whole story for Mueller's benefit. Cam had heard the story a few too many times to count, so she ended up zoning out for a little until she heard her name called.

"Dr. Saroyan, how have Dr. Brennan's work habits changed since the ax came down last week?"

Cam snapped to the present and searched her memory banks over this past seven days in Brennan's life. "Well, sir, it really hasn't been a normal week, so I'm not so sure how to describe what's been happening."

"Enlighten me." he invited in a friendly tone.

Cam breathed deeply before responding. "A former F.B.I agent, Timothy Sullivan, came to visit Dr. Brennan the other day. He roughed her up pretty good."

"How good is pretty good?" Mueller asked.

"He choked her, beat her eye black, and pretty severe bruises along her chest. They're healing surprisingly fast for as severe as they were." she stated.

"And she didn't fight back because she was protecting the baby that she's having with Agent Booth?" he asked.

"Correct." Cam said.

Mueller leaned back in his chair, apparently contemplating, "I knew Sully, and I can't imagine him ever raising a hand to a woman."

Sweets drew attention to himself by raising his hand, almost as if he were in a classroom. "I can answer that. I interviewed Agent Sullivan after he was incarcerated."

The other three waited for Sweets to continue, and prompted him when he didn't.

"Well, Agent Sullivan confided in me that he was love-sick once he got down to about Jamaica, so to speak. He hadn't realized how big an impact Dr. Brennan had on his life until she wasn't there anymore. He sought comfort in illicit substances and women that bore a resemblance to her. When he got back up here, he took the last of his steroid stash and promised himself they'd be the last that he'd need…because he was coming home to Dr. Brennan." he stopped.

"And she'd already found out she was in love with Agent Booth and was having his baby." Cam muttered.

"Exactly. When she refused to take him back and told him that she was involved with someone else, that knife that twists in someone's chest only made him angry, a side-effect from excessive steroid use over a period of time." Sweets clarified. "He said that if he had a chance to do it all over again, he would've taken it all back."

"Doesn't matter now. He's going to jail for at least a few years." Cam said.

Sweets' eyebrows furrowed, "Dr. Brennan's filing charges?"

"No, the Jeffersonian is. He assaulted one of the Institute's most-valuable assets on their grounds. He already confessed anyway, so they don't even have to go to trial." she said.

"Anyway, to get back on track, what do you think on the actual topic of Dr. Brennan and Agent Booth's working relationship along with their private one, Dr. Sweets?" Mueller tried to speed up the meeting. He already had a good idea what his decision was going to be.

"Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan have both become more protective and in-sync with each other since sexualizing their relationship. There isn't that tension that hangs like a thick veil between them anymore. If anything, I'd say it improved their working relationship." he summed up.

Mueller looked in Cullen's direction, "Sam? You've been pretty quiet. What are you making of all this?"

Cullen looked in the direction of the squint and the shrink. "Hacker tore the golden geese apart and threw them in separate cages." he said.

"Alright, then." Mueller rubbed his hands together. "Let's get down to brass tacks, then."

* * *

Brennan and Booth had fallen asleep after she snuggled back into him. When she'd woken again, it was closing in on noon. She decided that she might want to do _something_ productive, so she ventured out into the kitchen to put some lunch together. Brennan was afraid that her growling stomach would wake Booth up as she got up, but being as he was 'sawing logs', so to speak, it didn't really matter. His own snoring was too loud for him to be alerted.

Deciding to treat him, Brennan started shredding cheese for the mac and cheese he'd considered a drop of heaven. She turned on the radio, if only to lessen the harsh sound of Booth's constricted nasal passages.

_Falling through your sphere_

_All I know you and here_

_Your tongue is fire when you speak_

_But you make me sing_

_Your love makes me sing_

She had to stop and think that the song fit herself well. Although she would never admit it, Brennan was finding herself singing those sappy love songs that she always despised in the shower or when she was in her office doing paperwork. It shocked her beyond all belief when she'd snap out of the song through someone clearing their throat at her door. It was becoming rather pathetic.

There was the shrill noise of her cell phone that shook her out of these thoughts as well. Brennan wiped her hands off on a dishtowel as she went for the phone.

"Brennan." she voiced.

"Dr. Brennan, it's me." the disembodied voice said.

"Hey, Cam. Something wrong?" Brennan asked awkwardly.

"Actually, quite the opposite. I've got good news. Effective Monday morning, the separation's being lifted. Booth's going to have his squints back." she said happily.

She smiled and looked down to her small, still cold feet. "Thank you, Cam."

"It was Sweets and Cullen too." Cam tried to divert the credit from herself, something she was prone to doing.

"Well, yes, but…thank you." Brennan breathed.

"Don't mention it. Tell Booth I'll see him and you Monday." she signed off and disconnected the call.

Brennan hung up the phone before a pair of strong arms wrapped around her stomach, a head burying itself in the crook of her neck. "Did you catch that?"

"Every word of it." she felt his smile. "We're back."

"As of Monday officially, yes, we are back." she turned in his arms, enveloping him in her own embrace.

**_So, I have a little question for all of you loyal readers who take the time out of your days to review me. I was thinking of taking the next chapter in a different direction. Valentine's Day is going to be coming up in my little world of fanfiction. What I need from you guys is the answer to a simple question...smut? or no smut? I will swing either way, but do I take the rating up or leave it where it is?_**

**_Let me know please? And soon? I'd like to start the next chapter if I have nothing to do tomorrow. Please review._**


	10. Intimacy in Monogamy

_**Ok, so the majority of you that voted want the smut. But out of the mere twenty of you that voted, smut only had two more votes than no smut (that's a weird sentence). So what I decided to do was to give you something insanely fluffy and, most likely, the most OOC thing I've ever written. This isn't the smut chapter, I know, and I promise I will have one for you by next weekend because, in the meantime, I have exams to study for. So without further ado, I hope you enjoy.**_

**_Major references to the season 2 episode "Aliens in the Spaceship". That's where the letter stems from. For those of you who haven't seen it or forgot, Brennan wrote a final goodbye letter to someone (most likely Booth) while she was trapped in the buried car. That's where this idea stemmed from._**

_**Chapter Ten:**_

_-Sunday-_

The thick scent of vanilla filled the bathroom, warming the air around the bathtub's current user. Brennan sank a little deeper into the relaxing heat of the water, a small smile on her face. She had originally planned for Booth to join her, but as soon as he found out she was taking a bubble bath, his masculine pride had him 'respectfully declining'. When she told him she knew he took baths, he corrected her by pointing out that he didn't take _bubble_ baths. Wuss.

It didn't matter though. Brennan usually only took baths when she either wanted to think and have some time to herself or just to relax. This time was a little different though. As she submerged her head into the water, the topic of monogamy came to mind.

She'd always told herself that monogamy was an antiquated process and that human beings weren't a species that only had one mate for life like wolves and birds. Humans usually wanted multiple partners in life, even at the same time on occasions.

Booth had once told her once that it was what separated people from the chimps. Having the honesty and faith in someone that she thought used to be blindly sentimental and somewhat mock-ish. She thought back and couldn't think of one partner that she would've wanted any longer than the time she'd had them for.

All of that changed this morning when she had awaken to the feeling of two warm lips dotting her neck with kisses and large hands running over her cotton-covered body. His intentions made clear, Booth had made love to her so slowly it took them almost two hours to implode and collapse into each other, all the while whispering the what people called 'sweet-nothings' into her ear. One thing he'd said, however, had taken her completely off guard:

"_You're all I could ever wish for, Temperance. You mean everything to me."_

Brennan had been left wondering if his comment was really sincere. She knew he loved her, he made it obvious everyday by telling her first thing in the morning. It was a wonderful way to start the day, she'd discovered, but that didn't stop the nervous flutter in her stomach.

She resurfaced and pulled the plug on the tub, letting the water drain out of it as she vacated. Wringing her hair dry before she took the towel to it, Brennan felt this clenching in the pit of her stomach. While not painful, it made her feel slightly faint until she sat in the chair of her vanity.

Brennan looked at herself in the mirror for a hard minute. Both the evidences of vengeance and passion still apparent on her skin. She smiled to lightly at the thought of having to wear a turtleneck sweater to the lab today. While she respected Booth's belief that certain matters should be kept private, she still had the urge to uncover her battle wounds and display them like a gold medal dangling from her neck.

Pulling the tank top and cotton shorts onto her body, her eyes never left the mirror, her own blue eyes staring back at her. Brennan brushed through her hair absent-mindedly with her favorite comb, drawing out the moisture that would be left at the roots. Her thoughts were lost to all of the wonderful things that Booth had done for her as a partner, friend, and now a lover. Sure she wouldn't be able to count them all, Brennan pulled her hair back into a low ponytail and left her bathroom, leaving the door open so it would cool off faster.

Stepping into the bedroom, she saw Booth centered in the middle of her king-sized bed and flipping through the channels of the television he wouldn't live without and perhaps maybe forced into her domain. At this point, though, she wasn't going to argue with him. Give and take, take and give.

"Comfortable?" she had to ask as she went into her closet, fishing out another blanket.

Booth smiled and followed her with his eyes, "For the most part. All I would need right now is a beautiful woman next to me to make this perfect."

She gave the blanket a few quick tosses before she was satisfied with the area it covered. "You want me to go out and find her for you?"

"She's already here." he was quick with his response. Booth had good reflexes. It came in handy when something was taken the wrong way or in a debate with his partner.

Brennan climbed in next to him, but not close enough for him to reach her. She didn't know why she was acting so peculiar, even she knew her behavior was odd, but was all of a sudden filled with this unease.

"I don't have cooties, Bones. You can come a little closer." he chuckled.

"I know you don't have 'cooties', there's no credence to the stories that children use to avoid the opposite sex." she replied.

"Then why are you being so distant?" Booth asked as he lowered the arms he was holding out to embrace her in.

She sat up and looked down at the blood red blanket that she'd gotten so familiar with those short few years ago. Something had been nagging at the back of her mind ever since this morning when Angela had found the token of her existence, probably the reason that she and Booth were together now.

~ * ~

_Brennan walked into her office to find her best friend hunched over her desk, tears at the corners of her eyes. _

"_Ange? Are you al-…" she looked down at the piece of paper that had stared back at her, taunting her, for two and a half years. Brennan swiped it out from underneath the artist's grasp, pressing the yellowing paper into the fabric of her lab coat. "How much did you read?"_

_A small sob and a visible shake escaped the distraught artist, "Every word."_

"_Where did you find it?" she whispered._

_Angela's eyes were wild with apology and fright, "I went looking for your case file on the McGarver murder and I stumbled across that," she pointed to Brennan, "and I shouldn't have read it when I realized what it was, but I'm sorry, Bren. I'm really sorry."_

_Fresh droplets spilled forth as Brennan walked over to stroke her friend's back. "It's okay, Ange. I'm not angry with you."_

_Angela looked up with a sad smile on her face. "Have you shown that to him yet?"_

_Brennan shook her head._

"_You need to. I think he deserves to know what was supposed to be meant for him." she continued._

"_I know. And I will,…but I want to wait for the right moment." Brennan explained._

"_Life's full of moment's, Sweetie. We make them. They don't make us." Angela dried the last of her tears and went on her way._

_~ * ~_

"There's something I need to talk to you about, Booth." she said quietly, almost inaudibly.

Booth watched her for a second, trying to figure out what she was talking about. "Of course, Bones." He knew she'd shock the hell out of him anyways.

Brennan walked over to her briefcase and popped the clamps holding it shut. She picked up a yellowing envelope that had been resting happily at the bottom of her desk at work all of these years.

"There isn't a doubt in my mind that you remember the Gravedigger case." she stated.

"You mean that psycho bitch who buried you alive and was ready to blow up the ship I was on and send me to the fishes? I think I can recall." he said sarcastically.

She smiled, faintly, and walked back over to the bed, envelope in hand. This time, she sat side-by-side with him. Brennan handed him the envelope wordlessly and motioned for him to open it.

Booth thought he was going to be shocked, but there needed to be a new word for the kind of flabbergasted he was at that moment. He'd unfolded the paper and dropped it as quickly as though it were on fire.

"I…I can't, Bones. I can't read that."

Both knew what it was. The piece of paper had said it all. It was a poorly, torn-out title page of her first novel, _Bred in the Bone._ Her goodbye letter to him.

"Just don't think of it as though I'm dead. I'm right here, sitting next to you, beating heart and all." she tried to be cheerful, and falling significantly short. "I know it's not easy, but please try?"

His chocolate brown eyes met her steely blue ones, watered already, and he knew he'd have to power through, if not for her sake, for his own. Booth picked up the paper again and started to read.

"_Booth,_

_I'm not really sure how to start this. You read me like an open book anyway, so it's not like I can lie to you about anything. It's not like I'm writing this to a stranger either where I'd have to be formal and accurate. I mean, it's you and me. There's hardly an aspect of life we don't talk about. There's one thing I know you're going to want, though, and that's the truth. I know you, better than you think, and I know that you'll tear yourself up forever if you don't know what really happened down here…there…wherever. Answers are fleeting, but I hope I have a couple for you. This is all going to be the truth, one of the few things we agree on wanting. _

_What's important is Hodgins and I put up a good fight. We tried everything we could think of. If you're reading this, then it's likely that our best wasn't good enough. There's something we're trying right now that has both the potential to kill us or blow our way to freedom. It's probably not pertinent at this point, but we're making a make-shift charge from the airbag canisters. I can't get my hopes up for success, but my hope is that you'll never have to read this._

_Hodgins wrote a letter to Angela, most likely admitting his feelings for her, and asked me if there was anybody I wanted to say goodbye to. At first I thought it was so he didn't feel foolish being the only one to do something so sentimental, but the look on his face when I put this pen to this torn-out page of my novel…he seemed so at ease. Small comforts are welcome in a situation like this, I'm quickly discovering. There's also the more personal fact that, as I write this, I realize how many things I left unsaid._

_I never gave you the opportunity to be yourself. 'Don't be so pushy' and 'get federal on his ass'. It wasn't my place to question you judgment. I don't have room to vocalize these comments because you've been right almost every single time. Yes, you're metaphorical hell is freezing over. I admit that you're right. I'm not saying that your gut is better than my facts, but it seems to be the best thing that works for you. I'm sorry I didn't give you the credence you deserved._

_I wish now that I should've stopped nagging you like a small child, also. I never left you alone about the gun. The problem there is that I've always had the need to defend myself is something I've lived with since I was a teenager being bumped around from foster home to foster home. Trusting my safety to someone else has always been something difficult to do. Trouble is…I trust you…implicitly and unconditionally…and it scares me. I've never trusted anyone like I have you. It's an unsettling thought, but I'm almost certain that I'd do anything for you. I'd kill for you and I'd die for you, if I wasn't going to soon. I know I shouldn't think like that, but I can't help it._

_There's something else…I'm not really sure how to classify. As I write this, there's a clenching in my chest, butterflies in my stomach, and tears in my eyes. I'd like to think that this is due to the lack of oxygen in the car, but even I know that's not true. Every muscle in my body is achy and sore. My skin is clammy and my clothes have stuck to my body from the sweat. Over the last twelve hours, in the back of my mind, I've been thinking about you as I worked towards prolonging our existence down here. Now that all I'm doing is sitting here writing this to you, you're all I can think about. The comforting smell of your cologne is even still with me as I try to remember it. It's starting to depress me thinking that, if you've found this, I'm already gone and won't be able to tell you these things first-hand. _

_Whenever I'm around you, there's this rush of warmth that floods over me. When you touch me, even though it's a rare occurrence, it's almost as if my nerve endings are electrified. You stare at me with those eyes and, for the first time in my life, I'm at a loss for words. Those eyes of yours…it's nearly impossible to characterize what those eyes do to me. There are these emotions that battle within me that I can define quite easily. There are the emotions that I built walls to protect myself from. I haven't felt them for fifteen years, and I think from all of this, you know what I'm talking about. _

_I never expected this to happen. Angela was encouraging me this entire time to pursue it, but I was too work-oriented to let anything take place. I regret it now, even though I know that regrets serve no real purpose in life. I'm left to wonder now what it would've been like between you and I. If feels like I'm literally killing myself inside to hold it in .Even from 'beyond the grave' as you might call it, I…I love you. _

_It's sentimental and irrational, but I can't help it. I haven't felt anything this strong since my parents abandoned me. I've been trying to fight it, but you…you broke down every single one of my defenses. Taking my problems and my pain and accepting them as your own. I've never felt more cared about in my entire life. I love you most on that fact alone rather than all of the other numerous reasons. _

_I don't have much time left. We're about to set off the charge. I can only hope that this works and you don't have to know about my final thoughts about you. I started this thinking it would lessen your pain, but now that I'm practically sobbing on my dirt-covered clothes, I realize that it only pours about a pound of salt into the metaphorical wounds. I wish even though it doesn't help, that things didn't have to end this way, but you needed to know. I promise that when Hodgins and I set off this charge, even if this doesn't work, I'll be thinking of you._

_I love you, Seeley Booth. Please don't ever forget that._

_Your friend, partner…, and wannabe lover…_

_~Bones~"_

Booth was utterly shell-shocked. Brennan had loved him even when he thought that his feelings for her were never to be brought out into the light. She'd cuddled up against him as he'd read, reassuring him that she was still there, beating heart and all. A lone tear had escaped his eye, and her hand shot out to catch it before it plopped on the already tear-stained paper.

"I wish I knew how many times I'd sit here late at night and read this to myself over and over, looking for some way to tell you how I felt." Brennan wrapped her arms even tighter around her bedmate. "I couldn't see a way out without potentially sabotaging our partnership and, at the time, your friendship meant more to me than my hormones. That's all I thought it was the more I read it; a heat of the moment thrill of passion." she buried her face into Booth's warm neck. "I didn't know how great this was going to be."

He swallowed, trying desperately to find his voice. "How great what was going to be?"

Brennan pushed aside the letter that his hand was clenched around and replaced it with her body, the comforting weight snapping him out of his trance and bringing his eyes to meet hers. The connection between them undeniable. She didn't think she'd believed the old 'body to body, heart to heart' metaphor until now.

She breathed. "I never thought that someone would mean more to me than my next breath. But that night, the first night we'd made love without alcohol added into the mix, it was the first time I'd ever…actually felt…completely comfortable with a man."

Booth's hand trailed over her back, "What do you mean? You've never…?"

It took Brennan a moment to figure out what he was asking. "Oh,…no, not that. Of course I've achieved _that _before. It's just…afterward everything was so awkward. You roll over and might talk for a few seconds before you both fall asleep. But with you it's so much more intimate. With us, everything's just so natural."

He brushed her hair behind her ear, still more than a little shaken by her letter. "Such as?"

"You cuddle me as were both coming down from the rush. You stroke my hair while I try to fall asleep. The last thing I hear before I'm unconscious is your voice telling me you love me. The first thing I feel when I wake up is the warmth of your arms seeping into my skin." Brennan's own well of tears threatened to overflow onto her cheeks.

"Bones, why didn't you tell me any of this sooner?" he asked quietly.

Brennan shrugged, "I guess I was just waiting for the right moment to tell you but then…someone reminded me moments are what we make of them."

Booth thought over her words for a minute. "Sounds like Angela." he commented.

The incredulous look she gave him confirmed his suspicions. She buried her head into his neck as her breathing evened out.

"I really do love you, Booth. I know I don't really express it enough, but I really do love you." Brennan whispered. The way she nuzzled into him made him feel like there was nothing else in the world beyond their bedroom, their bed, and his Bones.

"I love you more than I can ever tell you, Bones. I'll remember that you love me as long as you know that I love you." Booth pulled the covers up around their bodies, cocooning her into him.

"That's possible." she smiled.

"It's a deal then." he chuckled. Booth kissed her forehead and stroked her hair, the motions soothing them both into the bliss of sleep.

**_Reviews are needed for my poor, black-nail-polished fingers to type these chapters that you all seem to like so much XD. _**


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